Is a meeting-room TV that talks to unknown servers a risk?
It can be. Smart TVs, conference screens and room-booking panels run their own operating systems, call home for updates, apps and advertising, and are rarely updated once installed. On the office network they sit next to the laptops that are presented on them, and some have microphones and cameras. Most of that traffic goes to the manufacturer's services, but you cannot tell from outside without looking. Switch off the features you do not use, such as voice control, app stores and viewing statistics, update the firmware, and move screens to a separate network for devices, with internet access limited to what they need and no access to office hosts. Laptops can then share their screen over a cable or a casting device on that network. NetSenX watches such devices without any software on them, from a SPANSPAN: switch port analyser. A switch setting that sends a copy of network traffic to one port, where a sensor can watch it. or TAPTAP: test access point. A small device that copies the traffic on a network cable for a sensor to watch. port, and flags beaconing, scanning and unusual outbound volume on every plan.
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Related questions
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Terms used here
- SPAN (switch port analyser)
- A switch setting that sends a copy of network traffic to one port, where a sensor can watch it.
- TAP (test access point)
- A small device that copies the traffic on a network cable for a sensor to watch.